


The Fire and the Ice

by Paper_Crane_Song



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s01e16 Shuttlepod One, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Hypothermia, Paradoxical Undressing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:55:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22389772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paper_Crane_Song/pseuds/Paper_Crane_Song
Summary: Malcolm has a nightmare in sickbay. Takes place immediately after the season 1 episodeShuttlepod One.
Relationships: Malcolm Reed & Charles "Trip" Tucker III
Comments: 12
Kudos: 49
Collections: Reed's Armory Collection





	The Fire and the Ice

**Author's Note:**

> _”Well, tinker all you like. I've got a copy of Ulysses here. I doubt I'll even be halfway through it by the time the ship gets back.”_
> 
> I would love to think that Malcolm, romantic soul that he is, was talking about the novel Ulysses by James Joyce. The book is beautiful and strange, with mighty lines and nightmarish imagery even within its first few pages. Malcolm was already having vivid dreams throughout this episode, and as Trip comments, “he has a real good memory”, so this story is kind of a Ulysses-inspired moment that takes place immediately after the episode finishes. The words that ‘Trip’ utters at the beginning are taken directly from the novel. 
> 
> Your thoughts and feedback are always welcome. Thanks for reading!

_He was back in the shuttlepod again, and Trip was kneeling, shivering, lighting the candle._

_“You know that’s going to consume oxygen, don’t you?”_

_But when Trip looked up, Malcolm let out an involuntary cry and flinched backwards, for the thing in front of him was no longer Trip._

_“I hear the ruin of all space,” it said, “shattered glass and toppling masonry, and time one livid final flame,” and it held its hands to the candle and they were set alight._

_“Stop!” he said, throwing himself forward but his legs were blocks of ice and he hit the deck hard, and the thing that used to be Trip was laughing as the fire spread up its arms and across its chest. The shuttlepod was coming apart around them, warning systems blaring, and he_ _tried to drag himself across the deck and still it was laughing as it melted and burned -_

“What’s the matter with him?” Trip shouted over the commotion as Phlox rushed to Malcolm’s side, the monitor beeping and Malcolm screaming. 

Phlox did not answer and so Trip flung the warming blanket off and swung his legs round. He swayed for a moment, stiff and aching. 

But Malcolm was still screaming and so he stumbled over to where Phlox was attempting to keep Malcolm from falling off the biobed. “Lieutenant, calm yourself.”

“Malcolm, snap out of it!”

“The fire,” Malcolm said hoarsely, trying to push their hands away, and of the kaleidoscope of emotions Trip had heard from him over the last few days, this was the first time he’d heard real fear. 

“There isn’t any fire,” he said but Malcolm was moaning now, pleading, “stop, stop,” and then an echo of a memory came to him, a half-remembered warmth as they’d sat there side by side in the shuttle, quiet now, drowsing, and all of a sudden he’d been too hot, had started frantically pawing at his jacket, fighting to unzip it, and Malcolm had been saying, “stop, Trip, stop,” had gripped his hands tightly in his own. 

He frowned, shook the image away. “There’s no fire,” he said again, “we’re on Enterprise,” and he clasped Malcolm’s shoulders roughly, the other man’s distress disturbing him when the events in the shuttlepod were still too near, too raw. 

“Commander,” Phlox said warningly. 

Malcolm blinked at him, eyes wide and disorientated, and then there was a sharp intake of breath as he became aware of where he was. “Let me up,” he said, and they stepped away, respecting his need for space. He sat on the side of the bed, head down, panting, and in his dishevelled state Trip had never seen him look less like a Starfleet officer.

Phlox was scanning him surreptitiously. “You had a nightmare, Lieutenant,” he was saying, “To be expected -“

\- and Malcolm just sat there, gripping the edge of the biobed with clenched fists, and Trip watched him, helpless. Now that they were back on the ship, the barriers of rank and formality were already closing in and the forced intimacy of the shuttlepod was slipping away.  And yet something had shifted between them. They were no longer simply two Starfleet officers serving together on the same starship. Malcolm had put a name to it; friendship, alluding to it in such a way that it almost seemed as if he feared he was being presumptuous. 

And so Trip took the warming blanket which had fallen to the floor and draped it carefully over Malcolm’s shoulders. Malcolm looked up at him, locked eyes with him as if nothing else mattered. “Are you sure you’re all right?” Malcolm said, his voice high, breathless, staring at him with a level of intensity and concern that would have surprised Trip a week ago, had he not seen the depth of feeling that Malcolm was capable of in that shuttlepod.  He had an idea that this was the essence of Malcolm Reed, hidden underneath the one who was guarded, constrained and wary.

“I’m fine,” he said, a little exasperated that Malcolm was taking a while to realise it, “we both are.” 

Phlox didn’t seem to agree though. “On the contrary, you’re both in need of rest still. Back to bed with you, Mr. Tucker.”

Malcolm reached out to grip his arm hard before letting go, his expression lighter now.

He sank back onto the biobed, grateful for its warmth, as Phlox pottered around them. He was half-asleep already when he heard Malcolm mutter, “bloody Ulysses,” sounding more like his old self.

“What?” he said sleepily. 

“Nothing. Goodnight, Commander.”

“Trip,” he mumbled automatically. 

“Trip,” came the reply, and he hummed softly in approval before falling into sleep. 

_Finis_


End file.
